人体器官捐献试点期将延长

在中国，每年有约150万患者等待接受器官移植，却只有1.3万人能有幸实施手术，更多人在无望的等待中死亡。去年3月，卫生部与中国红十字会在全国十余个省市启动了为期一年的人体器官捐献试点尝试，旨在探索我国人体器官捐献体系，缓解器官源稀缺。一年过去了，十个试点城市中通过试点捐献体系完成器官移植手术的只有40多例，自愿捐献器官的志愿者也只有100多位。卫生部副部长黄洁夫表示，人体器官捐献试点期将延长半年，并将在两年内对试点结果进行评估和反馈，随后向全国推广。

专家认为，国内目前没有一套完整的器官捐献模式。发达国家的经验表明：完整的器官捐献体系包括国家器官移植管理体系、人体器官捐献者登记系统、人体器官捐献和分配体系、器官移植临床服务体系等多个部分。现实中，红十字会器官捐献工作存在很大局限性。另外，由于没有脑死亡立法，我国器官供体质量远不如国外，其来源程序也在受干扰。目前全世界有89个国家和地区有脑死亡标准，一些国家还制定有《脑死亡法》。如果能在法律上确认脑死亡，器官移植医学发展会更快，更多病人会受益。

Almost one year into its trial run, China's first voluntary organ donation system has facilitated only 40-odd organ transplant surgeries in 11 pilot regions on the mainland, said Vice-Health Minister Huang Jiefu. Meanwhile, more than 100 volunteers have donated organs through the system.

When the system goes nationwide, and given rising volunteerism in China, more people will donate organs after death to help save those who would die without a transplant, Huang, also a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, told China Daily on the sidelines of the ongoing "Two Sessions."

"The trial run by the Red Cross Society of China and the Ministry of Health will be extended by half a year in pilot areas. After assessment and revision, it's expected to go nationwide in two years," said Huang, also an Australia-trained liver transplant expert.

Given the practical situation and social conventions here, all practitioners should use cardiac death as a standard definition of death for donations, adding that donations after cardiac death fit best into China's current situation where the understanding of brain death among the public and even medical workers remains poor.

Organ transplant surgeons in China have long called for brain-death legislation, arguing brain-death donation could secure high-quality organ donations for transplants.

"A lack of brain-death legislation, which in truth is not necessarily related to organ donation and transplant, should not hamper the promotion of organ donation," Huang refuted.

Performed in a proper way, donations after cardiac death can also meet the demand of transplants, said Huang's latest academic article to be published soon by the Lancet, a world-leading medical journal.

When the public is capable of understanding concepts such as brain death, euthanasia and vegetative states, "they will be allowed to choose between the two criteria," he added.

China now has 163 hospitals nationwide authorized by the ministry to perform organ transplants.

"We'll add 10 new ones to the list soon who have to strictly adhere to the cardiac death standard," he said.

Currently, about 10,000 organ transplants are performed each year on the Chinese mainland. It is estimated that around 1.3 million people are waiting for a transplant, largely due to the shortage of donated organs.